• Brooke Owens Fellow, Class of 2023

• Cornell University, Mechanical Engineering, ‘25

• Host Institution: Northrop Grumman

• Mentor: Suzi McBride

• Brookie Mentor: TBD

Nidhi Sonwalkar is a sophomore studying Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering at Cornell University and is a John McMullen Dean’s Scholar.

Nidhi has always been fascinated by the idea of making the abstract concrete. As a NASA High School Aerospace Scholar, she researched the design of a lunar mobile habitat, which cemented her interest in how to make space more accessible to humans. She continued exploring novel space systems – namely, small satellites – through her participation in the MIT Beaver Works Summer Institute, contributing to the development of a CubeSat prototype for ocean plastic detection. Her high school experiences encouraged her to pursue a career in mechanical and aerospace engineering with a strong interest in human and deep space exploration.

At Cornell University, Nidhi is Integration and Test lead of the Cislunar Explorers CubeSat research team in Dr. Mason Peck's Space Systems Design Studio. She is working with the team to design a CubeSat to demonstrate water electrolysis propulsion and optical navigation. These technologies can then be applied for in-situ resource utilization in future space missions.

She is also a member of the Cornell Mars Rover project team developing a semi-autonomous rover for the University Rover Challenge. Her current work on the Arm subteam focuses on prototyping of the six degree-of-freedom robotic arm.

Outside of Cornell, Nidhi interns at NASA Goddard’s Direct Readout Laboratory.

Apart from her academic interests, Nidhi is an Engineering Peer Advisor and mentors freshmen students for a smooth transition from high school to college. Additionally, Nidhi enjoys rock climbing, dance, choreography, and traveling.

Nidhi is excited to intern at Northrop Grumman this summer in Virginia and is honored to be a part of the Brooke Owens Class of 2023.